The Flagship: AEW Revolution, MyAEW, Vengeance Day, Osaka Pro, ESPN Letter Grades
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Voices of Wrestling
WrestleMania ticket sales
WrestleMania Saturday and Sunday are set up for 44,211, when they had 60,000 plus in the building both nights last year. If they announce anything like over 50 and especially over 60, it's just complete nonsense.
WWE/ESPN media relationship
ESPN basically got strong-armed to stop doing letter grades for WWE shows. The smoking gun is that Andreas Hale is still giving grades to UFC shows while WWE reviews after October's Crown Jewel do not have grades.
NXT distribution
NXT Stand and Deliver is going to air on YouTube because Peacock doesn't want them. Paramount Plus doesn't want them. ESPN doesn't want them. Netflix doesn't want them. They wouldn't be on YouTube if somebody wanted to pay them.
WrestleMania card
We're 37 days out and we have an open challenge, two women's title matches, Cody and Randy maybe, and then Punk and Reigns, and that's it. It does not feel like a cohesive WrestleMania at all.
Triple H booking
Levesque never has any ideas for people. He's a very creatively bankrupt booker. He relies on the strength of the brand and the strength of inherited storylines.
WWE media control
They control Busted Open, they control the Ringer, and they control ESPN. They are in control to some degree of all three. This letter grade story is just a byproduct of that.
WWE creative quality
The on-screen product right now is very bad. It's not just that we think it's bad because they make a wrestling show that is decidedly not for us; this is a bad on-screen product even among people who typically like it.
WWE backstage culture
They are keenly aware of what's being said about them online and they are being reactive to it almost like never before. Whenever they say they don't listen to the internet, they are clearly full of shit.
Booker T commentary
Booker T is maybe one of the worst commentators of all time. He's an imbecile. If you enjoy Booker T's commentary, I think it's kind of cruel. It's like you're enjoying the inane ramblings of an insane person.
WWE/Observer Awards fallout
They're doing a Booker T appreciation night all because they don't care very bigly. They don't care so much that they just cannot stop talking about it.
![Finn Martin (Inside The Ropes): "They're having difficulty selling the tickets [for WrestleMania]. They had over 60,000 in both ni..."](https://assets.pippa.io/shows/63c3cb6c7ae74e0010de78c0/1676313300045-f1ad613cb8c0f6878a8e907fecd13af1.jpeg)
